


Finding real love in a Romeo and Juliet reading

by Mantype



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, M/M, Mutual Pining, Pining Keith (Voltron), Pining Lance (Voltron), Romeo and Juliet References, broganes, shiro's their teacher and just set's them up
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-26
Updated: 2018-09-03
Packaged: 2019-07-01 19:59:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,083
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15781050
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mantype/pseuds/Mantype
Summary: “Now finally, as Romeo and Juliet, as decided by the algorithm, we’ve got Keith and Lance, respectively.” Shiro finished grandly, smiling at the whole class.That certainly did the trick to snap Lance out of his trance. He glanced over at Keith, who as usual was staring out the window, not that Lance paid enough to know what he was doing at all times or anything, that was one hundred percent not it. Nope, nada, not a chance. Lance felt his face flush, and heard himself saying, “I’m sorry what? I have to pretend to fall in love with Keith?"-Sure lance, sure, you won't be pretending for long





	1. Act I, Scene I

**Author's Note:**

> Fair warning: Romeo and Juliet spoilers. Obviously. I'm really going play by play here. Catch that wordplay. (I'm sorry for using the same pun twice in a row.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 1! Wooooo!

Lance slipped into his seat just as the bell rang. He let out a sigh of relief as he scanned the board to check the agenda, a confused look passing over his face as he read the words “Romeo and Juliet casting” written. Had he wandered into the theater class by accident? No that couldn’t be right, the theater room was across campus, this was definitely English class.

“Good morning class!” Lance’s teacher, Mr. Shirogane stood from his desk, walking to the front of the room as he spoke. “We’ve got an exciting unit ahead of us. Starting today, we’ll be doing a class reading of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.”

The announcement make the whole class break out into gasp, groans, and general disarray as everyone took in the news. Some of the girls whispered excitedly about how it was a romance and most of the boys put their heads into the hands, unhappy about the prospect of saying lines in front of a class. Lance just stared blankly at his teacher, still half asleep and not fully comprehending what he was saying.

“Ok class settle down now,” Shiro started, the class immediately paying rapt attention, “I’ve assigned roles randomly, so don’t complain if you don’t like your part alright? Blame google’s random number generator.”

Lance half listened as Shiro listed off the parts, doodling in his notebook, picking up on Pidge’s  
“Oh nice! I die half way through,” when Shiro announced she would be Mercutio, Hunk’s quiet grunt to acknowledge to his casting as Juliet’s nurse.

“Now finally, as Romeo and Juliet, as decided by the algorithm, we’ve got Keith and Lance, respectively.” Shiro finished grandly, smiling at the whole class.

That certainly did the trick to snap Lance out of his trance. He glanced over at Keith, who as usual was staring out the window, not that Lance paid enough to know what he was doing at all times or anything, that was one hundred percent not it. Nope, nada, not a chance. Lance felt his face flush, and heard himself saying, “I’m sorry what? I have to pretend to fall in love with Keith? And I’m a guy for goodness sake! Why do I have to play Juliet?”

Shiro smiled, flipping through his papers. “Well Lance, in Shakespeare’s time men played all the roles. Anyway,” he continued, putting up a seating chart on the projector, “these will be your seats for the unit, I’ve based them on character interactions, the Capulets on the left, Montagues on the right, meeting in the middle with our Romeo and Juliet next to each other along with all the other characters in the middle as well.”

The class was a flurry of movement as everyone grabbed their things together and tried to move to their new seats, dropping notebooks and apologies for bumping into others. After a short couple minutes everyone was settled.

Lance turned to his seatmate, “Hey, the name’s Lance. Obviously. We’ve never really properly introduced or anything…” Lance trailed off, not sure what to say to the grouchy teen seated next to him.

“I know,” Keith growled back, his head resting on his hands, pointedly not looking at Lance.

“Oh well yeah, I mean, I figured, I guess, I dunno since we’re stuck next to each other for the next seven or eight weeks, we might try to get along?”

“Whatever,” was Keith’s only reply.

“Alright class, now we’re all settled, let’s get right into it, turn your textbooks to page 756, where you’ll find the prologue, which is basically just a synopsis of the play… actually a sonnet… we’ll finish Act I Scene I as well today... take notes… beware of an essay...”

Lance was only half listening to Shiro talk, back into a trance. He took half hearted notes as the class read through the scene, joining in on laughter at the series of dick jokes, (“My naked weapon is out. Quarrel! I will back three!”) but mostly he was zoned out, not paying much attention to anything, his thoughts already moving on to whether he had homework for other classes. He perked up a little when Romeo entered the scene, listening to Keith as he read his lines monotonously not a trace of emotion to be found, despite his character being full of it, moaning about his unflinching love for Rosaline and such. And then the scene was over, and Shiro began to talk about literature devices utilized thus far, and Lance went right back into staring off into the distance.

That was until a voice snapped him right out of it, “What are you doing?” the voice hissed.

“I-what?” Lance replied, realizing it had been Keith talking.

“You’ve been staring right at me for the last-” Keith looked at the clock on the wall, “-fifteen minutes.” Was Lance imagining things, or was Keith’s face a shade pinker than usual?

“Oh, sorry man, I guess I kinda zoned out…” Lance said, his hand rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly.

“Well zone out in a different direction then.”

“Sorry, really I-” Lance sputtered, and just then the bell rang, signaling the end of class, and Lance rushed off, eager to avoid continuing the awkward situation.

~~~~

Once everyone had left the class Keith grabbed his bag and, addressing his adoptive brother by his much less formal nickname, spoke, “Shiro what the hell!”

Shiro laughed, “Language Keith, I _am_ your teacher after all, and can easily give you a detention.”

This did not deter Keith one bit, he knew very well how empty that threat was. “Shiro, I know that wasn’t a random number generator that put me as Romeo. Why did you have to make me the main character who talks the _most_?”

“Keith, you’ve got to get out of your shell. You’ve hardly talked to anyone other than me this school year, and you can’t go on with me being you only friend forever.”

Keith signed, he knew Shiro was right, but that didn’t mean he had to like it, “Okay, fine, whatever.”

Shiro smiled, and relaxed into teasing brother mode, Keith eyed his brother wearily as he awaited Shiro’s next words. “Besides Keith, I know you think Lance is cute-”

“No I don’t!” Keith interrupted, perhaps a little hasty, his face a little too red. “Besides, even if I did think he’s cute, which I don’t, he clearly hates my guts.”

“Whatever you say Keith,” Shiro said, his voice dripping in sarcasm, “Now run along before.you’re late to your next class and I’m not the only teacher threatening you with detention.”

Keith rolled his eyes at his brother before leaving, his backpack on his slightly tense shoulders.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so a couple notes, I refer to Shiro as "Mr. Shirogane" one time during Lance's perspective, but if sounded so awkward that for the rest I just use Shiro, but I might change that later.  
> Second, this first chapter switches between Keith and Lance's perspective but in the future that probably won't change mid chapter, so it'll roughly switch off chapter by chapter.  
> Also, writing this is so fun because I love roasting Romeo he's so pissy.  
> Any note's of adjustment are much appreciated bc this is writing practice for me before a big project!


	2. Act I, Scene II + Act I, Scene III

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here's the lovely second chapter!
> 
> I forgot to mention before, but I'm @the-meekest-link on tumblr (not that i really post there but) and this prompt I guess was inspired by a conversation I had with @gayrados on tumblr (or rather I got really excited and she was like, make it a fic dude and so I did)
> 
> But without further ado, enjoy!

Keith slumped into his new seat the next day, opening his textbook and flipping through it to the day’s scene, scanning it to see if he had any lines. Of course he did, what else could be expected of the great Romeo.

Keith heard a body slide into the chair next to him, and glanced over to see Lance sling his bag over the back of his chair before grabbing his notebook and a pencil. 

Keith remembered what Shiro had said the day before, and in the effort to be friendly muttered a quiet “Hey” to the boy next to him.

“Sorry what’d you say?” Lance asked, a slight edge that Keith really hoped was morning grumpiness apparent in his voice.

“I said HEY,” Keith returned, a lot louder, and angrier than he intended.

Lance gave a confused look in return, which quickly morphed into annoyance. “Look dude, I don’t know what I did the piss you off, but it’s like eight in the morning and I do  _ not _ have the energy to deal with it right now. Okay? So like, lay off or something.”

Fuck. That was not the reaction Keith was hoping for. “What no I just-” Keith groaned, he wasn’t going to be able to save himself from this one, Lance clearly just hated him more now. “Ugh, whatever.”

Keith saw Shiro fix him with a worried look before addressing the class, which just made him want to disappear even more than he already did. “Well, good morning everyone! I hope you all reviewed you notes last night, although if I know anything about high school students, I’d say around only around two of you did,” Shiro paused to laugh, he was a lighthearted teacher, and many student’s favorite. “Anyway, life goes on, and so does the play! Today we have scene two on our plates, so I hope you all have your acting voices ready.”

And so the reading began, Keith’s lines came too soon, and he read them the same way one might read the label on a kitchen disinfectant: emotionless. It was all he could do to not visibly cringe in front of the class at Romeo’s vain exclamations of his supposed love of Rosaline. (“One fairer than my love? The all seeing sun/ Ne’er saw her match since first the world begun”)

At last the scene was over, the focus was the class was off of Keith, and he was finally able to relax a little. 

“And that’s a wrap on scene two! A pretty short scene overall, so after we have a quick discussion about it, I’d say we probably have time for scene three as well.” There was Shiro, not letting Keith get even a moment's rest. “So let’s have everyone turn to their seat partner and talk away.” 

Keith turned to Lance, his face already falling in anticipation of a hostile Lance. He decided to start off this discussion by apologizing for the last, “Hey um, before anything, I just wanted to uh, say sorry for kinda yelling at you at the beginning of class, I uh, didn’t mean to annoy you, I was trying to be nice but, obviously that didn’t work because you didn’t hear me and now I’m rambling and yeah. Sorry.”

If Lance was still angry, his face certainly didn’t show it. He was calm and collected, and when he spoke, his tone was soft and completely opposite from just twenty minutes ago, “Hey, it’s ok man. Sorry for snapping at you as well.”

Keith found, that for whatever reason, his face felt hot, and he desperately hoped Lance hadn’t noticed. “Right so, the scene. Not a lot happens I guess.”

“Yeah, I mean other than Romeo being a whiny baby,” Lance said, only half joking, and Keith wondered if that’s how Lance saw him, what with his stupid rambly apology. “But seriously, it’s so clear how his quote unquote  _ love  _ is extremely shallow, he’s probably never even talked to Rosaline, and all he  can say about her is how pretty she is. Which like I get a crush, but crying in the forest about her? Really?” 

“Yeah, I mean I could never imagine going that crazy over someone,” Keith replied, but looking at Lance and hearing him speak, he thought maybe he could imagine doing just that, but he quickly pushed the thought to the back of his head. 

“I hope you had some good talks, remember to store all that sweet sweet analysis for the essay!” Shiro paused as the entire class groaned. “Now lets shove in the next scene before I lose you all to the end of class yeah?”

After some shuffling and turning of pages the scene was begun. It featured Lady Capulet, the Nurse, who was voiced by Hunk, who Keith knew to be one of Lance’s closest friends, and most importantly, Juliet. Finally Keith got to sit back and watch the boy to his left as he spoke. Everyone laughed at Hunk monologued about how he had seen Juliet grow up from just a child, and laughed louder at one of the series of sex jokes that littered Shakespeare’s plays. (“Nay, bigger. Women grow by men.”) And yet Keith could only focus on one thing, the way Lance’s voice so casually mimicked the emotions of the scene, play acting as Juliet just as easily as one might run down a hill, with no fear of judgement, just a free spirit. Keith was utterly captivated. 

Once Lance had finished saying his last line, he turned to Keith, smirking, and whispered, “Who’s staring now, Keith,” before turning back to his notebook and scribbling a couple words down, smiling a stupidly cute smile at the pages on his desk. 

Okay, so maybe Keith did have a tiny little crush on Lance, but it wasn’t anything serious or anything. He could not be out here having feelings for this boy who would never reciprocate to someone like him. If he was Romeo, than surely Lance was Rosaline, destined to never return his feelings. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Keith ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) 
> 
> I hope you enjoyed chapter two, and my attempt at tying in the actual play more. (I do it even more next chapter just you wait) 
> 
> Keep commenting I love it!!


	3. Act I, Scene IV

Today, Lance was ready. Not for anything in particular, just… ready. He had gotten up early and managed to get Veronica to leave the house and drive him on time, so he didn’t have to rush to class. Actually, he was so early that he made it to his morning meeting spot with Hunk and Pidge before either of them arrived. 

“Lance! Look who’s on time today,” Hunk came walking up, Pidge trailing behind him, staring intently at her calculator. 

Lance waved at the two, smiling, “Morning Hunk, hey tiny gremlin, what’re you working on now?”

“I’m not that short!” Pidge grumbled, before drastically changing mood and excitedly showing Lance her graphing calculator, “so, I’m programming a game onto my calculator, and while I would like a fancier one, this one works with simple games, and the one I’m working on right now is just a simple movement using these keys here, it was pretty easy to program actually. Obviously the graphics are limited at best, but what can you do?” 

“Not much really, except get a beefier calculator, and then you can download like, actual games onto it…” Hunk mused, and as he talked the group began their walk over to English class, which was unfortunately the only class the group shared.

Lance stopped listening, his friend’s computer talk always blew over his head. He wasn’t much of a STEM guy, but he always excelled with language and art classes. 

“...Oh yeah they can do that too! Wow, if only I had the money for one of those things they’re like at least a hundred dollars, and I really don’t have time to get a job…” Lance heard Hunk say as they walked into the classroom, but Lances eye were already on his desk, and, well… he had to admit it to himself, the boy in the desk next to his. 

Lance greeted Keith with a smile and a “Hey dude,” in too good a mood to think about what Keith thought of him, and what he thought of Keith. 

‘Oh, hey” was Keith’s reply. He was intently focused on the play, Lance supposed he was getting used to the lines before having to read them aloud. He took a moment to appreciate the way Keith’s eyebrows furrowed when he focused. Then he shook his head, why was he thinking about that? It’s not like he liked Keith or anything. 

Lance may have been ready for the day, but he was not ready to address what he thought of Keith, so he pushed all thoughts of the matter deep into the back of his brain, and pointedly focused his energy on the following scene. 

If Shiro followed the same pattern as he had the day before, they’d probably read the next two scenes, as scene four was short, just a quick introduction to Romeo entering the party thrown by the Capulet family. 

And scene five. The scene where Juliet and Romeo meet for the first time. And also immediately share a kiss. Lance briefly let his mind wander, and imagined what it would be like to kiss the Romeo next to him. Then he wondered why he had imagined that. 

The bell rang to mark the start of class, and the was Shiro, on top of the game as usual. “Looks like everyone is ready to start so let’s get right to it. Keith and Katie, take it away you two.”

And so they did, along with the kid who played Benvolio. Lance listestened to the voice acting, noticing how there was just a touch more emotion in Keith’s voice, he seemed a little more relaxed than before, Lance half wondered why. Shiro paused the scene to point out a translation he wanted to make sure everyone understood, because it was an example of Shakespeare’s “true literary mastery.”

The section was as follows:

 

“Romeo:  I dreamt a dream tonight.

Mercutio: And so did I.

Romeo: Well, what was yours?

Mercutio: That dreamers often lie”

 

“Now, this section seems very nice and all, but, if you’ll excuse my language, what Mercutio is basically saying here is, ‘Romeo you’re full of shit.’” Shiro paused, laughing lightly. “Thought you’d all appreciate that, now carry on.”

Lance saw Keith rolling his eyes next to him before he continued his lines. 

Mercutio had some long monologue about queen mab, which,according to the margin notes in Lance’s textbook, was something to do with a prostitute. Before he knew it, the scene was over. Lance was pretty excited for the next scene

“Nice work you three, a beautifully delivered scene if I do say so myself.” Shiro said. “And while I know you all must be very excited to get to the next scene, it has some of the best lines after all, and actual interaction between the two supposed love birds.” Shiro took a moment to stare rather pointedly in Lance and Keith’s direction, and Lance half wondered how true all what Shiro had said the first day was. “Unfortunately, we really don’t have time today as it’s a very long scene. Instead, take these last ten minutes to write some noteworthy quotes in your books.”

Lance sighed, he really had been looking forward to this next scene, he was planning on having some fun really embodying his character. And yeah, maybe the idea of his and Keith’s characters sharing a kiss did excite him a little bit. Not that he’d ever admit it out loud or anything.

Lance spent the entire day in anticipation for the next, he couldn’t wait, and that night he found himself reading the scene in bed, wanting to be fully prepared for class. He fell asleep, the play running though his mind. Keith, running though his mind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that has been chapter 3!  
> Validation is cool so leave a Kudos :)


End file.
